Tony Stark's Daughter
by 5-0sherlockiron
Summary: Phoenix is an incredibly gifted kid with a terrible past. She has searched for answers since she escaped from her stepfathers grasp.Now the police have contacted her real father Tony Stark and she is suddenly subjected into a life she never asked for. To Phoenix she'd be safer alone then with adults she doesn't actually know. How can Tony help someone who doesn't trust anyone?
1. Chapter 1

_**Tony**_

_**11:30 California State Police station**_

The dust filled room was little more then four cement walls. Handcuffed to the table in front of her, Phoenix was forced to stare at herself. She didn't mind though, it gave her a chance to perfect her smile. As the man emerged through the door behind her, she didn't even attempt to crane her neck to see him instead she just continued to stare at the mirror. He was of average height however his build looked like that of a boxer. He dropped a plain file onto the even more ordinary desk. He stood.

"You know, you confuse me. But at the same time you make me curious. So tell me how does a fourteen year old disable bank security and open one of the most secure bank vaults in the state without touching anything, when as far as I know you have never had a primary education?"

"I aim to please." That trademark smile refused to leave her face. "However as you said I never touched anything, I'm guessing the banks camera's were otherwise occupied. You've got nothing."

"On the contrary, we have witnesses who can place you in the bank, we have the device you used in the crime. We can prove what you were doing." His eyes became thin slits and he finally took his seat whilst showing off his own sneer.

"Liar."

"Excuse me?" the officer asked clearly offended.

"If anyone tried to look at that _device, _you would know it doesn't like strangers. It has a tendency to, well, self-destruct. So unless you can prove anything I suggest you let me go." Phoenix did become slightly concerned when his grin didn't shift.

"Can't do that." His manipulative eyes about as beautiful as mud, refused to leave hers.

"Oh?"

"You see it would be irresponsible of me if I did. You're a minor. It's sixty degrees outside. We're in a bad part of town. You could catch a cold… or a bullet."

"Your concern is deeply touching but I think I'll be just fine. Un-cuff me." Her smirk began to fade.

"Certainly I'll un-cuff you right now because unfortunately you say you haven't committed any crime. However I still won't let you leave."

"Of course." Phoenix sighed frustrated.

"What is your mommy's number?"

"So I was right." The grin returned.

"About?"

"You know nothing about me."

"You gave us your name and social security number. We confirmed the basic information you told us, but tell me why we found nothing else."

"Maybe I'm just not all that popular." That really seemed to piss the cop off.

"Mother's number?"

"Don't have one."

"A number?"

"A mother." He didn't seem sympathetic for even a second.

"Father?"

"Good question." She said with abnormally little emotion.

"Okay then… I'll call social services in the morning." He got up and began leave.

"Wait!" She cringed and immediately lost her trademark. "I might have a father… but he doesn't know me."

"His name?" when Phoenix instantly tongue tired, he moved behind her and breathed onto her ear. "His name!" He suddenly screeched causing her to flinch.

"Tony Stark." She responded slowly and quietly. The officer's eyes reflected off the mirror and stared at her. She saw him hesitate for a moment, but only a moment.

"Can you prove that?"

She moved her hand to her pocket and revealed a scrappy piece of smeared paper. Sure enough, it looked to be a print off of a birth certificate. He took a moment to read it. Leaving Phoenix to begin to fret.

"Look I don't need family. I haven't needed them in years and I don't need them now. Please… no good can come from this."

"Fortunately, you don't get to make that choice." He said heartlessly as his sneer crept its way right across his face. Another man entered through the door "Detective Jones you're needed in the conference room."

Phoenix attempted to get up and run. Leave and never look back but Detective Jones gripped her shoulders and pushed her back down into her seat.

"Don't go anywhere." He whispered into her ear as Phoenix felt a tear start to form. She'd heard about Stark, and obviously she'd heard about Iron man but she didn't know him. What if he was just like her stepfather?


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

_**Midnight Stark Tower**_

Within her own right, Pepper was ready to let loose on an unsuspecting Tony after an understandably confusing phone call from the Californian police. She must have sounded like the Hulk wearing heels as she pounced through the door. It only took her a split second to spot him. Only he wasn't sitting relaxed with a Martine… he was half hanging out of the roof with a ladder barely touching his feet.

"Tony! What are you doing?"

"Pepper we need to get better engineers. Loki really messed up the system and what do they do? Leave. Who leaves at…?" Tony paused and looked at his watch before going back to the roof.

"Midnight? Anyone with a decent union."

"Okay so get rid of their union."

"Tony, do you want to tell me anything?"

"Well I've been feeling quite fantastic lately…is that normal or is that just you?" he proudly commented smiling down at Pepper who looked completely unimpressed. "Nothing?" He began feeling uncomfortable.

"How's your daughter?" Hearing this, Tony proceeded to smash his head into the roof provoking a grunt.

"Owww. My what?"

"Oh yeah apparently you have a daughter. Anyone else I should know about?" Pepper hit the ladder accidently hard causing Tony to fall heavily to the ground.

"Okay so apparently we're now trying to kill me." Tony managed between muffles hasty apologies. "What do you mean my daughter?"

"The Californian police called and said they needed you to come, meet, and collect your daughter."

"Pepper it's probably a mistake, or someone just out for money."

"Well we'll see when we get there."

"I have lawyers right? Why can't they go and figure it out?" He said whilst propping the ladder into position.

"Because she may be _your_ daughter… Tony you don't get a choice. I'm telling you _we_ are going to work this out, together." She responded incredibly austerely forcing Tony to stop and stare as she scurried back out of the room, provoking a sigh.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3 **_

**6PM California State Police Station**

Pepper walked down the hall talking to a fresh-faced officer whilst Tony trailed behind. Could she be his daughter? Well obviously. He hadn't exactly lived the life of a saint. But if he did have a daughter, he thought, wouldn't her mother of asked for money or created a media frenzy? She wasn't even the right age. She couldn't be his daughter… but what if she was?

"… Well it was nice meeting you Ms. Potts. Mr. Stark's daughter is in this room. I'll wait outside."

"Thank you Officer Lewis." He nodded his head and watched Pepper as she continued a small way down the hall to the interrogation room door. She started to turn the handle when Tony's hand stopped her.

"New boyfriend?"

"Guarantee's better then the last." She turned the handle and walked in leaving Tony bathed in utter guilt.

"So… How'd you do it?" Tony asked leaving Phoenix perplexed.

"Nice to meet you too. And do what? The bank? The reader?"

"The birth certificate."

Completely puzzled, Phoenix asked, "How did I find it?"

"How did you make it?"

"I didn't." The confusion was swirling with non-stop fusion across her face.

"Yeah sure. So what do you want? Money? Fame? Publicity?"

"I don't want anything. I just need to go back to my life."

"Ah ha. Use that line on the police too."

"It's not like that." She responded insulted.

"Then what is it like?"

"I just…need to be by myself again. I'm safer by myself." Phoenix was genuinely concerned. Maybe he was like her stepfather.

Okay. He picked himself up and began to leave.

"Tony…." Pepper began.

"Mary Marcs. You don't even remember her do you?"

"No… I don't." The glint in his eyes

"I wish I did." A wave of guilt became inflicted upon Tony. He stopped in his tracks and looked back at Phoenix.

"How do you feel about a paternity test?"

"Any other options?"

"Social services."

"Then I think it's a great idea." Finally her trademark shined out.

"Good." Tony left the room leaving an air of silence.

"I'm sorry about him."

"Is he always like that?"

"Only when he's confused. I'll go talk to him."

Why would Tony be so cold? This girl could be his daughter and he was acting cruel. If there was one thing Iron Man was not, it was cruel. So why now? It couldn't hurt to ask. "Tony what the hell was that?"

"What do you mean?"

"You just scared a child."

"She's fine."

"She's alone and scared."

"She's faking."

"How would you know?"

"Genius remember?"

Pepper stopped and grabbed Tony's arm as Lewis looked on.

"Could you give us a moment?" She civilly directed to the Officer, who nodded and left. "This isn't about her is it?" Tony breathed in heavily. "Is it?" She forced.

"If she is my daughter, which is very unlikely… What if she is my daughter Pepper? Then I'm her only family. I can't have a kid I mean I don't know anything about kids."

"Tony you were a kid once."

"No, no I wasn't. My parents weren't exactly around even when they were alive. I can't do this."

"You remember her don't you?"

"Mary Marcs was in the graduating year at MIT when I was asked to give a lecture for community service. We only dated for a fortnight then she left. Never said why." A door closed behind them but they didn't bother turn.

"How many years ago was that?"

"That's the thing, it was sixteen years ago. Phoenix's fourteenth birthday was only last week."

"Maybe we should ask her. How old was Mary when you met her?" They began walking back to the door.

"Seventeen."

"Seventeen?" Pepper asked opening the door again to see Tony rush through. Detective Jones had Phoenix by the color.

"Where is it…?"

"Get the hell off her!" tony grabbed him and threw him back against the wall.

"I'm going to charge you with assault!"

"I doubt it. But I'm going to charge you with minor abuse. Get out of here." Tony tried to place his hand comfortingly on her shoulder but she flinched. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She answered but was unfortunately unbelievable.

"Do you know what year your mother graduated from MIT?"

"Yeah I used to have a copy of her year book. 1997."

"No but she would have only been eighteen."

"No seventeen, she was born in 80."

"Then you _are_ fourteen."

"Of course." They paused, confused and scared, while Pepper just stood at the back thinking.

"Let's get you out of here kid." Tony said poker face still plain and unmoving. But Phoenix was slightly smiling. Any excuse being away from Jones.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Sorry about the late chapter my Internet failed. I realize that the last chapter was confusing but don't worry it was meant to be. All will be explained. **_

**Chapter 4 **

**10PM MALIBU**

The flight back was relatively quick. Tony had planned to ask Phoenix her life story but she was dead to the world after being in the car for only five minutes. Happy carried her to her seat in the plane and the whole time she did not wake to see the city in sleep. Tony couldn't help but watch her. She was wearing ripped clothes, her hair was dirty and her face was scratched. There was so much he didn't know about this girl. Where had she been the last fourteen years, what happened to her mother and how long ago?

When they had arrived back at Tony's house, Happy carried here to the spare room with Tony tailing. He threw the covers over her and said a quiet goodnight. She didn't even stir.

"I'll be back tomorrow."

"Thanks Happy." Pepper responded waiting just outside the bedroom door. "Come on Tony, let's go to bed."

"Yeah sure." He wandered back into the corridor. Pepper could see moisture collecting in his eyes. "Let's go to bed."

She awoke sweating and in a panic. She had had a horrible dream and I didn't help that emerged from her rest she was in a place she didn't know. She had dreamed her stepfather had found her again, well at least… she hoped it was a dream. Was it a dream? Now that she'd had this thought her heart was racing, her palms were sweating and her stomach began to ache. There was only one thing she could think of to do…

"TONY! TONY! TONY!"

Tony and Pepper flipped out of their bed. Phoenix was still screaming bloody murder and now Tony was running.

"PHOENIX?" He arrived and the door and lurched through seeing Phoenix still her bed. "WHAT'S WRONG? ARE YOU OKAY?"

"Where am I?"

"In Malibu, at my place." He put his hand over hers.

"Is he here?" She ripped her hand back and stood back.

"Is who here?" genuinely confused.

"My stepfather." Tony had never heard anyone so scared.

He hesitated for a second then answered. "No one is here but us. Oh and Jarvis" He said looking at Pepper over his shoulder as Phoenix followed his eyes. "I promise."

Phoenix breathed slowly looking into her fathers in search for any signs of lying. She didn't find anything.

"Okay. Whose Jarvis?"

"_At your service." _Phoenix looked around.

"He runs the house." Pepper answered almost immediately.

"Nobody is going to hurt you here. I'm not going to hurt you. Pepper's isn't going to hurt you and I'm never going to let anyone else hurt you."

"You don't know me."

"Which is a shame because I think you might be worth getting to know. As long as you don't give me a heart attack every morning." Tony said jokingly causing phoenix to giggle as she tried to adjust to the situation. "We can talk later if you want. It's 3am, you should get some sleep." Phoenix nodded unable to speak. "Okay." He picked himself up and left holding Peppers hand. He turned off the lights and closed the door. But Phoenix still couldn't close her eyes.

Tony and Pepper lay in bed after their 7am wake up call. Tony knew he had a lot of explaining to do so he thought it best to tell Pepper everything before she asked him to.

"Tony, she can't be your daughter if she was born two years after you dated."

"If it was two years…"

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. I thought we dated in 96 but Phoenix said she was in graduating year in 97. Meaning we must have dated in 97 meaning it makes sense that Phoenix was born in 98."

"What?" Asked a baffled Pepper.

"I thought she was born in 79. I knew she was 17 when I met her so I assumed I gave the speech in 96. If that were so it would make it impossible for Phoenix to be my daughter. However if she was born in 1980…"

"That would make her seventeen in 1997. Phoenix was born in 1998, meaning she could be your daughter."

"Exactly."

"Why do you have to be so confusing?"

"It's fun. Jarvis find out what year I gave a lecture at MIT to a class with a student named Mary Marcs."

"_Right away sir_."

"And how is Phoenix this morning Jarvis."

"_I think she's hungry."_

"Why would you say that?"

"_She's been in the kitchen cooking for hours_." Pepper and Tony turned their heads to one another.

"Cooking?"

They walked to the kitchen to be met by someone who looked a lot like Phoenix, but was it? She was of the same average height, with the same strong composition. Problem was her hair was brown, not black and her eyes were of the same beautiful brown color as Tony's. Her clothes were clean and the rips were fixed.

"Hope you guys don't mind Jarvis helped me wash my clothes. And I had a shower. Oh but I made breakfast to say sorry for last night. It's kind of been a weird few years." There was an array of fruit salad, pancakes and omelets on the kitchen table.

"Well thank you. And thank God you're a better cook then Tony." Pepper and Phoenix laughed but Tony stood confused.

"You love my cooking."

"Of course Tony." He actually seemed genuinely offended for a second until he laughed.

"Sir, James Rhodes is here."

"Rhodey?"

"…Tony, Tony!" he appeared in the kitchen. "Tony we have problem… Hi I'm Rhodey." He said turning his attention to Phoenix.

"Phoenix."

"Nice to meet you."

"Rhodey what's the problem?"

"The ten rings."

"What about them?"

"They've become hostile. We need the suit."

He wavered for a second and looked at Phoenix "I'll be back later. Are you two fine here?" Pepper and Phoenix nodded. It would be good to know a bit more about each other.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 **

**Middle East**

The dust swirled around him like he was in the eye of a hurricane as he landed in the heat of the desert. A few seconds later Rhodes landed beside him in the form of War Machine. The sand calmed and returned.

"Tony I wasn't laughing I just can't picture you as a father let alone in a stable relationship."

"I'm in a… somewhat stable relationship with Pepper anyway I thought you said the camp was here."

"It was."

"Well it's not anymore." Tony turned ready to fly back home when Rhodey dropped to his knees groaning.

"Rhodes quit messing around."

"Tony…"

"Rhodey?"

"The suit it's…it's freezing." His painful tone was disconcerting.

"We're in the middle of the desert. You sure you're not just imagining things."

"Do I sound like I'm imagining things?"

"Jarvis what's going on?"

"_Sir, the thermo control system isn't responding. It's as if it is being controlled_."

"Then why isn't mine…?"

"_Mr. Stark."_ It sounded like a damaged bullhorn.

The sand erupted as tanks stormed from seemingly nowhere. "That's new." Tony whispered one hand on his friends shoulder.

"_We've been expecting you."_

"As we have been expecting you." He shouted and leaned down to Rhodey. "Who were we expecting exactly?"

"_Do you understand how much pain you have put me through in the last few years_."

"Depends." Tony started using his hand to head the shoulder of Rhodey's suit.

"_On?_"

"Who you are."

"_You don't recognize my voice_?"

"Should I?"

"_Well you'll recognize my face_." A hatch opened on a tank behind them. Raza emerged from inside sending waves of fear and emotion running through Tony.

"Whose your friend?" Rhodey managed to moan."

"What did you do to his suit?"

"I had one of my friends create a plan."

"What's the endgame?"

"To hurt you." Tony stood silent still warming Rhodey with his hand. "You see Mr. Stark you are incredibly selfish."

"Am I?"

"Three years ago you announced to everyone that you were Iron Man so you would be known, seen. Which would be fine if you were someone like me, someone who isn't naïve enough to care about other people. To have friends, family, people you love. But I was angry to say the least, when you destroyed millions in weapons and manpower. And the amount of pain you put me through when you blew up part of my face."

"I think that might be a slight exaggeration…"

"So here's the deal, I'm going to let you and your friend leave here, alive, today, with the knowledge that I'm going to come after you and everyone you care about until you have nothing." Tony could feel his blood beginning to boil.

"Good luck with that." He held his hand up to Raza about to shoot. It powered down instead.

"All your weapons are disabled."

"Jarvis?"

"_The weapons systems aren't functioning normally however there has been no system errors." _

"Tony…" Rhodey was getting weaker.

"I suggest you leave before I cross your friends name off my list. I promise his suit will return to functioning normally when he starts the thrusters."

"I'll find you." Tony said unwavering.

"Good luck with that."

After a momentary pause, both the suits were gone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 **

**Malibu Mall **

"What about this one?" Happy held a top up to himself showing off the arms of the shirt.

"It's pink." Phoenix responded after one glance at the horrendous shirt.

"So?"

"Well I think it's nice Happy." Pepper answered emerging from around the corner wearing a new dress.

"Thanks. At least someone appreciates my taste." Rolling his eyes in Phoenix's direction. "That's a nice dress."

"Phoenix?"

"I don't know…"

"Just tell me what you think."

"It's a bit old-fashioned." Phoenix answered walking through the store to an original set of shelves.

"Thank you. I'll go get changed." Pepper returned to the change room as her phone began to ring. "Happy can you get that?"

"Yes mam."

"Pepper Potts' phone… what? Mr. Stark slow down, what happened? We're at the shops we thought Phoenix needed clothes… yes sir… well Pepper is just in the change room next to me… Phoenix is right here, Phoenix? Phoenix? PHOENIX?"

"_Happy talk to me!"_ The line hissed.

"Sir I can't find Phoenix."

"Happy what's going on?" Pepper appeared.

"We may be in danger and I can't find Phoenix."

The shopping center buzzed with an unfortunate display of loud sounds, kids screaming, shop alarms and the worst sound, silence from the one thing they needed to speak. The silence tasted like fear.

"_Where is my… where is Phoenix_?"

"I'll call you back sir."

They ran through the store yelling Phoenix until they came to the end and turned around to be met by something unexpected. Phoenix.

"Couldn't find any…" Happy through her onto his shoulder and he and Pepper ran the way they had come in half the time. "Pepper?" The girl screeched. "What's going on?"

"We need to get back to the mansion we're in danger."

"If you want to get out of danger, then although I do enjoy being carried put me down." Happy let her down really quickly but continued to rush through the crowd. "Do you think we'll get out of danger by giving someone a very obvious target. Three people running through a crowd is a little conspicuous don't you think." She grabbed both their arms and told them gently to walk straight. She followed them as they walked quickly to the nearest exit. The thirty seconds it took to make it out felt like hours to Pepper and Happy but just another drill to Phoenix. She had done things like this regrettably often in the last couple of years. As soon as they were through the exit Phoenix told them to run. They dashed to the Audi, which was painfully far, but were gone within seconds.

**Stark residents **

She stopped and fell silent, as she instantly felt sick. Phoenix turned a horrible ghost white and showed no signs that she was breathing until she spoke.

"Tanks… appearing from nowhere?"

They had been talking about what had happened. Tony had explained that they had gone to the location in the middle of the desert to find nothingness. Until they had realized they were completely surrounded.

"Yeah. Jarvis run a check on new camouflage technology in the middle east." He didn't turn to see Phoenix face to face.

"_Yes sir_."

"Tony…?"

"I haven't seen anything like that kind of tech in that part of the world."

"It's my fault!"

He turned shocked to see a very sick looking version of Phoenix. "Are you okay?"

"No. That tech that ambushed you… I designed it… It's my fault."


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi everyone! Hope you enjoy this chapter. I am going overseas tomorrow so I may not have good Internet meaning it may be difficult to deliver a new chapter everyday. Rest a shored, I will be sure to attempt to provide a new chapter whenever possible. Thank you for the feedback. Remember any criticism is appreciated. Thanks again **

**Chapter 7 **

**Stark Residents**

"What are you talking about?" He sounded more confused then angry. That's not to say he didn't sound angry.

She knew everyone was looking at her. Rhodey, Happy, Pepper and Tony staring, she could feel it but she couldn't care less. This was her fault and nothing could change that.

"The reason why the police couldn't find anything under my social security number was," Her audience was completely captivated "my Mum and I were designing weapons for our military. For my protection she wiped my records when I was twelve. I was eleven when I designed that camouflage. I only did it for fun. I saw a Harry Potter movie where the car turned invisible so I spent a few months reading up on camouflage based technology and tried to figure it out. My stepfather took the book I used to do all those drawings in because I was planning and not paying attention. Long story short he showed my mother who had already begun work for the military and asked me if I would design the same thing but for a tank."

"And what happened to those designs?" Tony asked whilst everyone else was too perplexed to speak.

"I don't know Fr…" She hesitated. "My stepfather sent the designs out with a currier a few weeks later. I never heard anything after that."

"What were the designs called?" Tony asked calming down.

"Potter camouflage scheme two." Rhodey couldn't help but snicker at that. "Hey I was eleven okay." Rhodey raised his hands in submission as Tony told Jarvis to search military records under that name.

"_There is no record of those designs ever being received." _

"What?" Tony asked utterly baffled until he realized. "Phoenix is there any chance your father, I mean stepfather didn't send those designs to the military?"

"Maybe. Mum was never around to see it obviously, but he was different when she wasn't in the same room as him."

"Did you ever see the currier?" Rhodey asked.

"No. He always made me wait in my room when he had people over."

"Well what's your stepfather's name then?" Tony asked before the room fell into a cold silence.

"I can't…"

"Why not?"

"I just can't."

"I get that you care about him and don't want trouble but…"

"I don't care about him." With calm defense.

"Then tell me his name!" Tony raised his voice harshly.

"If I tell you his name then you'll search to find him. He knows when people are trying to find out about his past and trust me; it never ends well for them. I care about all of you. I need you."

"Apparently you didn't need me when you were at the police station."

"Difference is I've never been in the same place with the same people for two days in over a year. He knows where I am now."

"Is that such a bad thing?" Tony asked aloofly insinuating she should be with him. She paused for a second.

"For you it wouldn't matter. But for me… lets just say I'd rather be in prison for my whole life then be in the same room as him for another hour."

"Phoenix please. You're worried about us, but that tech could result in thousands of casualties or fatalities. The only way we can prevent that is by finding more out about the tech and the organization." Rhodey interrupted.

Phoenix considered this. She had never meant for any of this to happen. She never wanted anyone to be hurt by something she had created. How could she have not seen something like this coming? Maybe she could help them. After all, she knows the technology better then anyone… at least she hoped she did.

"Frank Thomas."

"Do you remember his birthday?"

"Hard to forget it. You'd think someone who was born on Christmas would be less serious."

"Do you know what year?"

"1972 I think."

"Thank you."

Tony was sitting in a chair feeling overwhelmingly guilty. Phoenix however, seemed even more upset. Happy and Pepper had been standing back listening to the whole thing without uttering a word. Happy was to shocked both at Tony's behavior and Phoenix's story. Pepper was just angry with Tony for intimidating a noticeably scared kid.


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks for the wait everyone. I had no Internet what so ever overseas however now that I'm back in Aus. I'm back at school but I promise that every night I have time to write a chapter it will be at least 1000 words. Please review.

**Chapter 8 **

**STARK MANSION**

"Tony go."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes!" She whispered harshly.

"Why can't you do it for me?"

"Because I wasn't the one who hurt her. And I'm certainly not going to tell her"

"I didn't hurt her."

Pepper allowed one eyebrow to rise.

"Okay, okay…. I'll go."

The door slowly opened and Pepper stood her ground as Tony looked back to her. Phoenix was sitting in the guest room writing and only turned to see Tony when he was practically right behind her.

"So… what are you doing?"

"Just figuring some stuff out."

"Like?"

"How you found out about what happened in the police station."

"And?"

"I figure you hacked into the camera's a while ago."

"Why would I do that?"

"To find out my intentions." Phoenix said without a hint of regret.

"You're wrong…"

"I'm not wrong often."

"I got Jarvis to send an anonymous tip to someone who wasn't very happen to see her officer abusing a child. Which reminds me, I looked through the tape and saw you take something out of his pocket when he was un-cuffing you. Was that what he was asking for?"

Phoenix seemed to sit in an uncomfortable silence for a second before responding. "Ah yeah." She laughed slightly.

"What made it so important."

"It was probably the only chance he has had to go on a date with a real woman in a long time." This left Tony confused for a moment. Confusion had never seemed to suit Tony. "When I was coming into the station he was talking to one of the other officers. Gave her flowers and was being flirty. I saw her give him her number. And he was annoying me in the interrogation room… so I kind of took the number."

Pepper, who was peeking through the door, couldn't help but let but let a grin slip onto her face.

"So you just stole the number?" Tony said seemingly seriously.

"Hey he had it coming." Worried Tony was unsmiling. The pause between conversations made Phoenix more awkward.

"Good job."

She stayed sitting and tony remained standing. Phoenix began drawing on a notepad. Tony couldn't help but look into her eyes. Why couldn't Mary have told him? He knew even then maybe he could have done something. Saved this girl from whatever she had been through.

"So Jarvis tells me the dates match up. So we're just waiting on the DNA results. The bad news is, I know you've just gotten here and everything, but…"

"You want me to leave?"

"No. I need you to leave."

"Okay."

"Aren't you going to ask why?"

"After a year of moving from place to place, with trouble following me everywhere, I don't think I need to ask. I'll pack up."

"No. That's not what I meant. It's just that trouble seems to follow me too and I want you to stay with Rhodey. If these people find out you're my daughter… I just need you to be safe until I can take down the ten rings."

"Tony they might already know I'm your… _daughter_."

"My stepfather has never been far behind me. He's always found me and if he works with the ten rings… and if I haven't run everyday, then it's very likely he's realized I've been staying in the same place for half a week. If they are as smart as I think, they may have already worked it out."

"_Sir, we have a security breach." _

"From where?"

"_In the guest room." _

"Phoenix!"

"I swear I only hacked in to get Internet connection."

"Why didn't you just ask me?"

"Oh come on that's no fun. And you seemed pretty angry at me."

The guilt had come back immediately. Tony hadn't exactly made a good first… ten impressions and he knew it. Truth was he was scared. He didn't know how to be a father. Up until a year ago he never even knew his own father cared about him. If she were his daughter, she would never be safe. How could he deal with that?

"When I said I wouldn't hurt you, I meant it. But I know I must have hurt you last night. I'm sorry. The truth is I don't know how to be a father."

"Good. Because I haven't been a daughter since my mum died."

"This is going to sound really cheesy," Tony said very quickly. "But after this is over, maybe we could try to figure this out."

Phoenix sighed. He couldn't care about her. This, she knew, could make everything worse. So why did hearing Tony say this make her feel so warm?

He cleared his throat and regained his strong mind. "For now though, you need to go with Rhodey. He's waiting downstairs."

"Thank you."

"What for?"

"For caring."

"I'll always care about you."

"Not about me Tony, about my mum."

"What do you mean?"

"She gave me a necklace in her will. Said it was hers from my real dad." Phoenix pulled out a heart shaped thick necklace from under her collar.

"I never gave her that."

Phoenix's eyes widened and she began breathing heavily. She sprinted through the door ignoring the fact that she'd past Pepper and ran down to the shop.

"Phoenix! Phoenix!"

She typed in her code and ran through the glass door. Picked up a hammer from the trolley and smashed the heart screeching in anger.

"Phoenix!" Rhodey, Pepper and Tony were now chasing.

The electronic chip was revealed. She felt herself become instantly fatigued and her whole body shook as if a wave of ice had covered her. She half collapsed only to be caught by Rhodey before she hit the ground and lifted back up. Her body seemed to lose all energy, but her eyes were open in shock and Tony and Pepper gathered around her.

"He was NEVER my dad. He was tracking me the whole time. How could I not have seen this coming?"

"Phoenix, you didn't do anything wrong. You trusted you're mum. She gave you the necklace." Pepper attempted to calm her.

"I ran for a year. Everyday for a year! How could she ever have thought he was my dad? That man is sick. He was disturbed after she died he was no father. He was always drunk and I was almost never allowed out of my room. How could she have ever thought he was a dad? She wore this everyday! So he was tracking her everyday and she never knew. He never cared about her and she died thinking he wasn't a bastard. He never cared about her. He was just doing this for the ten rings. He can't be my real dad."

"Phoenix he is not your real dad! Okay! I am."

"I just don't understand why I didn't figure this out. He was one step behind me for a year and I never knew."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Stark Mansion**

Tony could hear Pepper and Phoenix laughing like schoolgirls through the door. He wondered why they were laughing, why Pepper seemed to be so much better with her then he was, why Phoenix had never seemed to respond to her name, but most of all he was wondering why a girl with only three outfits was taking so long to pack!

It had taken a bit of time and a lot of convincing to get Phoenix to open the guest door after she found the chip. Tony had muttered something about her not being stupid, which was unfortunately misread as an insult and Pepper swooped in to catch the fumble. "You know how smart your mother was and you should know how smart you are. Your mother had been wearing that necklace for longer then you did without noticing and from what I'm told she was smarter then Tony."

"She beat me in one exam get over it." Tony said before immediately backing off to get away from Peppers cold glare. "I mean - she was more of all rounder."

"None of this was your fault. Do you want me to help you pack?"

Tony found himself wandering back down the hall and he popped down the stars to be greeted by Rhodes.

"How is she?"

"Fine. I think. Other then the fact she doesn't like me much."

"She'll like you in time. It may take a while though. You tend to grow on people slowly."

"Gee thanks." Tony said sarcastically walking over to and then disappeared behind the couch.

"So you've got a bag for Pepper?"

"Yep. I get the feeling she's probably not going to be all that happy about this."

"Probably."

"It's for the best though."

"Are you trying to reassure me or yourself?"

Tony's quizzical look provided a quick answer. Phoenix and Pepper waltzed gracefully down the stairs still giggling. "Wait so it means modest and well-behaved."

"Yeah."

"What are you guys talking about?" Tony interrupted slightly concerned when they looked at him with exaggerated grins.

"Why Phoenix never seems to respond to her name."

"Oh good so I wasn't the only one thinking about that. So why?"

"Because her name is Haiti."

"Oh brilliant…"

"Seriously how confusing can one girl be?" Rhodey added. Phoenix laughed.

"So you guys already knew my full name. Phoenix Haiti Marcs."

"How could anyone forget a name like that?"

"Well my mother and you must not have had a good breakup because my middle name is Haiti. She and my stepfather called me Haiti even though my first name is Phoenix."

"Why?"

"Simple. She always said I was named Haiti because she didn't want me to turn out like 'a man she once knew'. My middle name is Haiti because it means modest and well-behaved."

Rhodey let out a laugh and Pepper chuckled again. Tony stood dead still.

"She was the one that left me without me even knowing. How could it have been a bad breakup?"

"Tony do you remember Stella Andrews?"

"Who?"

"She was a girl you dated for about three months in 2007."

"No…"

"She was a nice girl. But she left because you were always drinking and partying."

"That's a little harsh though naming my own daughter against me."

"Modest and well behaved." Rhodey laughed. "That's great."

Eager to change the subject Tony asked if everyone was ready to go. Pepper didn't seem to notice the bag Tony was holding.

The sun danced across his glasses as the wind ripped through his jacket. He'd been sitting in the blazing heat for hours before the relief of a pink sunset set in atop of Malibu. As he saw two cars leave the mansion he leaped into position yanking his glasses off, laying on his stomach and replacing the specs with long-range binoculars. His worn hands, his leather jacket and blue trousers were painful against the relaxed consistent sea. Nothing about him matched his surroundings. He was clean shaving and serious and looked completely determined to fulfill his reason to live. He was to serve and to care for one of the few he had ever cared about; only he knew not the whole story. The binoculars followed the car even when his phone began to ring. A typical tone. "Thomas." He answered.

"The girl is Stark's daughter."

"Thank you. What's the next move?" he asked as the cars went out of sight.

"Your debt has been repaid. We can start to ruin Stark and we can fix the technology. After we are done, you could take your stepdaughter out for ice cream or we can leave her in a deep dark ditch. Your call."

"I'll take her. She has left his residents I'll let you know when I find out were they stop next."

"Good just make sure she doesn't slip away this time." The phone line went dead and Thomas packed up his gear and began back down from the sandy hill two hundred meters South-east of Stark mansion.

They pulled up against a modern apartment block following Rhodes's lead. It would be the perfect place to stay incognito. The streets were practically empty with little traffic and few people about on the sidewalk. The building blended perfectly into the others very similar to it that bordered. The night had been quiet and the trip consisted of trying to make Tony as embarrassed as possible by telling ridiculous stories. The group stepped out of their respective cars onto the walkway and Tony grabbed a bag out of the boot but Phoenix had kept hers with her in the car.

"So Pepper and Phoenix… I will see you both in a few days have a good time with Rhodey and I'll see you later." And with that Tony passed Peppers bag to Rhodey and ran back into his car and drove off.

"Rhodey?" Pepper stood muddled.

"He thought it might be a good idea if both of you stayed with me until he fixes this."

"I can take care of myself." Pepper defended.

"Now you know how I feel."

"He said you wouldn't let him go without you if you knew."

"He wasn't wrong. I don't like the thought of him fighting terrorists alone."

"He won't be alone." Rhodey whispered.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Location Unknown**

She couldn't speak or move or see. The room was too dark, too small. She could feel though, but what she felt was not pleasant. The sensations of blood trickling down her face and pain engulfing her body. She tried to scream but all she managed was a muffled cry and the filthy cloth in her mouth only felt like it was getting tighter.

There was something dripping on her and water slugging around her feet. Unfortunately the sludge wasn't loosening the binds on her feet and the dripping was just annoying. She ran her palms as much as she could up and down the wood they were tied to. She imagined that if water were running past the already termite infested chair it would hopefully break. Even if they did break though, there was no light coming from cracks or anything like that. For all she knew she could be stuck between four solid walls.

Fear gripped her stomach as the roof started to moan and rumble and more water and dirt was released onto Phoenix's face burning her eyes. It sounded as if someone were scraping his or her nails slowly down a black board. Slowly and so harshly that Phoenix kept flinching when one round stopped and the next started. It was the sound of an old hatch opening.

The light seared her eyes and provoked a groan. A man started climbing down a ladder that stood in the center of the room. Phoenix still had her eyes shut and her neck craned to the right avoiding as much of the light as possible.

The man started clicking his tongue. He bent down in front of the chair Phoenix was strapped to and grabbed her jaw. Raza twisted it, pulled it to make her face him.

"Stark's daughter has been within my reach for the last ten years and I haven't known." His whisper was haunting. "Open your eyes, child."

She didn't want to. She was scared but she couldn't let him know that. So, she opened her eyes and glared at him trying to ignore the pain of the light and the scares on his face.

"Good. You know I can see the resemblance." He stroked her cheek, wrapped one of his arms around her head and untied the knot on the gag. "I do suggest though that you try not to be as ignorant as your father. For that's the only reason your here. That's the reason you're staying here. "

Phoenix spat out the gag and forced her face from Raza's grip. "You do realize that when Tony finds me, you're dead right?" Fear etched into her voice.

"And that is exactly why you're _here_." His voice echoed off the walls. "I can assure you, he'll never find you here."

**Now I realize that this is probably very confusing and creepy right now but the next chapter is what happened twenty four hours earlier. I promise that the next few chapters are action packed. Welcome back to school holidays! Please review **


	11. Chapter 11 The reason

**Chapter 11**

**Rhodey's apartment**

**24 hours earlier **

If you had to describe that night, you couldn't describe it as quiet. It was ear-achingly loud, actually. You'd think Pepper would have been really annoyed at Tony for driving off, but she seemed more interested in Phoenix then she was in anything else.

The air had been filled with stories and adventures of the months where Phoenix had supposedly been alone. Well, she hadn't exactly been on her own; she'd had detectives on her tail for months. A couple of entering/trespassing charges (she had expressed that she was far too civil for breaking and entering), petty theft, computer fraud and withholding information; a charge that the detectives had always attempted to lay on her when they became frustrated. None of those charges had every held up. And it didn't help that Phoenix moved from city to city on practically a daily basis.

Phoenix wasn't the type to just let someone arrest her. In fact, she felt great pride in saying that she'd only ever been in handcuffs twice. She would either free run; use a child's innocence or her tech skills to get out of a sticky situation. She had a total of thirty-three identities she had used with different police and had created a digital file on each one of them if she thought the police might become suspicious.

The one time the room became eerily silent, was when Phoenix had got up to the part where she had returned to her Frank's house. They couldn't understand why she would return to a place she was so terrified of. She explained that when she ran away, she only had time to grab a few things; some clothes, a laptop, her mother's diary and her own diary.

Her mother was a great believer in diaries, she said they could hold truth, fear, memories but most importantly knowledge. She said knowledge was the most important tool for a scientist's success and scientists with bad memory, has to have good diaries.

The problem was, her mother was going paperless. She had all of Phoenix's records backed up on an encrypted drive on in exterior computer after Phoenix had designed something for the _military_. Or so that's what she said in her diary.

Phoenix, a girl who had been alone for too long had been searching for real family. A real father, grandparents maybe even siblings. Anything. So she broke past the security system after she observed Thomas leaving the area. Two hours later she was a ghost. Months later, she'd finally hacked it and a copy of her birth certificate was the only file she was interested in. Problem was, it wouldn't open.

Phoenix spent a week trying to make it work but it just wouldn't. The only way she could see what was in the file was to create an algorithm that could override the original program and force it to print its contents.

That's where the bank came in. Although it was a complete accident, it worked. The algorithm had a somewhat big flaw which Phoenix learnt the hard way; as soon as the program had done its job, it would print to the nearest available receiver. Which happened to be in the manager's office of the bank Phoenix had been walking past. So, to distract staff and security, she caused a… diversion.

"Well that would make sense. In a seriously weird way." Rhodey had said.

"Welcome to my life." Phoenix responded dropping her head a bit.

"Phoenix where did you get money? I mean if you were moving around so much, you would've needed money to travel, to eat and drink."

Pepper turned to Phoenix. Rhodey had a point, where had she got the money?

"Okay well I'm not proud of this, not at all. But everyday I would generate two account numbers and one of my systems would hack them. Fifteen dollars each and no more. No number was ever repeated and all of the accounts had to have held a certain amount of money." Phoenix lifted her backpack up and removed a red leather-bound book. "Every number I every took from, I recorded in here. I intend to give each of them a refund with interest once I've got the money and the opportunity. I never wanted to take anything."

Rhodes and Pepper nodded their heads understandingly and Pepper was quick to change the subject.

"Who wants Pizza?"

Two vans. One van was filled with six armed men, a driver and a navigator, all dressed in full black with balaclavas. The other van was almost identical except for a few things; there were five in that van including the driver, navigator and Frank Thomas all with their eyes glued to computer screens and headphones in one ear.

Phone line weren't Thomas' job to monitor. That was up to one of Raza's hires. As soon as it was explained to Thomas that a call had been intercepted and that a pizza was going to be delivered, a smile that would make a brick wall flinch, spread disturbingly quickly across Thomas' face.

Rhodey opened the door to find what looked to be the pizza man. Rhodey uttered thanks and turned his back for only a second to grab his wallet of the bench. Phoenix turned to look at the doorway and nearly died in her skin. She grabbed Pepper's wrist and told her to go into the bathroom, lock the door and call Tony. Phoenix ran up to Rhodey pushed him away from the door and proceeded to slam it into the mans face and lock the door. Pepper was still standing in the same position but had her phone to her ear and fidgeting on the spot.

"Phoenix what's going on?"

"I've seen him before. We have to go!"

Rhodey thought for a mere second and then grabbed Phoenix and ran to Pepper and pulled them both into the guest room. He threw up the carpet and entered a code into a metal panel on the wood.

"An armory under the floor… that's cool." Phoenix muttered.

Then something thumped, pounded, over and over until it smashed.

"The phones still off." Pepper yelled.

"Turn it on then." Rhodey passed Pepper and Phoenix both a handgun and left the room. "Both of you stay here!"

The sound of bullets piercing the air was painful and utterly terrifying. But Rhodey had already taken down three of the men when one appeared directly behind him. Rhodey dropped his gun, spun and grabbed his wrist with both hands and forced it in two directions removing the gun from his hand. Rhodes then turned and pulled the man painfully over his shoulder, bent down to pick up his gun, only to feel the cold of metal on the back of metal being placed onto the back of his neck. Releasing his gun, he stood slowly only to be struck over the head at such a pace he was lucky to only be knocked out. Within seconds he was bound.

Pepper turned to Phoenix and took off her watch.

"Phoenix put this on. Trust me."

Phoenix wasn't really in a position to ask questions and at that point she had know idea what was going on. She hated that. Although most of her actions in the past hadn't been planned out, she had some control over the situation but not now.

The door handle started to twist and Phoenix pulled Pepper to the side of the frame. Thomas walked in.

"Haiti, where are you?"

Well that comment was met with the butt of a gun being smashed over his head… by Phoenix, of course.

"That son of a…"

"Phoenix!"

"Sorry." Phoenix whispered back.

The apartment went horribly quiet.

"I think we may be clear." Pepper said almost silently.

"Try calling Tony now."

Phoenix walked out cautiously clearing the hallways until she arrived at Rhodes' side and Pepper was soon to do the same. Phoenix quickly whispered something to Pepper who then spoke a few wind-like words into her phone before she seemingly laid it to rest on the floorboards.

Suddenly people surrounded them and everything became very dark very quickly.

The next thing Pepper knew was waking in a hospital bed with Tony by her side holding her hand and Rhodey on the other side in another bed. Eyes shut and bruise covering his writs and face. Although somehow, he looked almost peaceful especially compared to Tony whose eyes were an agonizing red. Then a thought entered her head; 'Where's Phoenix?'

**Okay so here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy and please review so I know what everyone wants most in the chapters to come. Thanks for reading **


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12 **

**Good Samaritan Hospital**

"Pepper?" Tony's eyes looked to meet Pepper's. She attempted to sit up and get out of the bed but a sharp pain and Tony stopped her. He gently pushed on her shoulders lowering back down.

"It's okay. Try not to move."

"Where's Phoenix?"

"I don't know but I'm going to find out."

"I gave her my watch…"

"Ah Pep…"

"Tony I gave her my watch! Why haven't you found her?"

"Pepper _your_ watch was in _your_ pocket when I found you and Rhodey."

"But I saw her put it on."

"And you mustn't have seen her take it off."

There was a slight pause as Pepper attempted to take everything in.

"Tony I'm so sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. Okay? Nothing." He said attempting to make Pepper stop panicking. "What do you remember?"

Pepper told him everything. The fake pizza guy, the fight and Frank Thomas. All of it.

"Then she whispered something to me after I called you."

"What did she say?"

"It didn't make sense but she told me to put my phone on the ground and cover my head."

"And then?"

"Everything went black."

"Why is that kid always so cryptic?"

"Remind you of anyone?"

Tony edged the corner of his mouth up and down. He looked like he hadn't slept in a while.

"How's James?"

"He's fine. He was awake a couple of hours ago."

"So they left Rhodey and me at his place and took Phoenix. Why?"

"They didn't leave you at his place, Pep." Tony looked genuinely stunned. "I found you and Rhodey nearly two days ago. You were both in the back of a van that was travelling down a highway near LAX. You don't remember?"

Pepper shook her head. "No. Not at all."

"Pepper I left you at Rhodes' on Sunday night."

"And?"

"Pep its Wednesday."

**Location unknown**

The room was filling gushing water and now it was almost up to the bottom of her knees. Phoenix saw a green light in the corner of the room but decided to take no notice of it. Wood splintered as Phoenix snapped her palms down. She struggled, pushed and pulled until at least one of her arms was free before freeing the other and her legs. Although she still had no idea how she was going to get out, she needed to see if Pepper's phone would still work or at least stand up before the water was too high.

She pulled her shoe free and extracted the device. Soaking wet and not working at all. How helpful. She took the battery and SIM card out and slowly tried to dry the phone out with her shirt. Yes, the screen was cracked and obviously wouldn't work very well but she just needed to make one call. Phoenix then went to clean out the SIM card when she realized the magnetic strip had almost completely rubbed off.

Plan B then. She cleaned up the battery and charged it on her pant and called 112. All cell phones even without a SIM card can call 221 however they would then be untraceable. Once again, not very helpful.

"112 what is your emergency?" She had a thick Indian accent.

"I'm stuck in a room that has four almost solid steel walls and a hatch on the roof as an opening. There's water flooding through a small square in the walls and the rooms starting to flood."

"What is your name please?"

She considered this for a moment.

"Phoenix Marcs but I'm Tony Stark's daughter… " She stopped. Who was going to believe she was Tony's daughter?

"Miss Marcs, is this a real emergency?"

She looked down. The water was up to her thy.

"YES! Okay! All you have to do is find my Dad, tell him what I've told you so he can find me before I drown."

The urgency in her voice made it obvious she wasn't lying. Then the hatch started opening.

"Mam, what's going on?"

"Oh this can't be good."

Frank Thomas appeared as the hatch opened. "C'mon kid. We haven't got all day it's going to flood in there soon."

She hated this. Oh my God she really hated this but she didn't have a choice.

"I'll call you back. Find my Dad."

She climbed the ladder and grabbed onto his arm. When she was pulled out and the hatched closed she noticed men with semi-automatic machine guns surrounded her. Perfect, just perfect.

Thomas grabbed her collar and pulled her to her feet. "How I've missed you, kid."

**Good Samaritan Hospital **

"Tony who's that?"

Pepper looked outside the door to see armed officers watching the door.

"I called S.H.I.E.L.D. They're on protection detail as well as trying to find Phoenix."

"And why aren't you trying to find Phoenix?"

"I have three separate world wide programs looking for her through cameras, cell phones, Internet. Everything. It's the same technology we used to find Loki."

"Stark!"

Director Fury walked at a concerning rate through the door.

"Have you found her?"

"Not in so many…"  
"HAVE YOU FOUND HER?" He rose to his feet faster then lightning.

"No. She managed to call 112. Whatever phone she was using didn't have a SIM card."

Tony sat back down slowly head in hands.

"What did she say?"

"Here, you can listen for yourself." With that Fury handed him a small phone-like device and whispered the word _play_ hesitantly.

Tony heard it. All of it. The fear etched into his daughter's voice terrified him. He had to find her. He'd known her now for a couple of months but he knew he needed her. She needed him too.

He looked across at Pepper and she was crying. Even Rhodes had awoken to hear her yelling and was now lying in his bed hopelessly.

"I'm sorry, Stark. We're still working."

With that Tony upped and left. He was going to bring her home himself.

**Location unknown**

"I'm sorry. I was angry at myself and I took it out on you."

Phoenix was now strapped to a pole in a thick tent. Outside had been so dessert like, her eyes were still hurting and dust was still in her hair.

"Angry at yourself?" Phoenix almost screamed. "Why the hell would you be angry at yourself? You did your job. You fooled my Mum and then killed her. That seems more like a mission accomplished for someone like you."

Thomas slapped her and the sting echoed around her face.

"My orders weren't to kill her! They were to hurt her to prove I wasn't getting too close."

"Oh so you just accidently killed her then?" Phoenix asked sarcastically.

"Yes."

"Because that makes it so much better!"

"Well I guess the leader was right about me getting to close because I drank every night after that…"

"I'd noticed." Phoenix mumbled.

"When I hit you it was my way of hurting myself."

"Because that's healthy."

"Would you stop with the sarcasm or I may be tempted to hit you again. You should feel special. I cared about you enough to feel pain when I hurt you."

"Yes that makes me feel so much better..."

"I made a deal with the leader…"

"His names Raza."

"I'm aware. Anyway my deal allows me to take you after he's done scaring Stark and we can be a family again."

"A family? When were we ever a family? Oh that's right, never!"

Pain stitched into her other cheek.

"Your scared I understand. But I'm a changed man now. I'm not going to hurt you."

"You just did for the second time in five minutes!" Phoenix said warily.

"Don't you get it? We can be happy."

"You're such an idiot sometimes." Phoenix was tearing up.

"Why would he let me go? More importantly why would he let you go? You failed him three times…"

"Four actually. I misplaced your friends."

Phoenix breathed a sigh of relief. The one bit of good news she'd heard in what felt like an age. Her plan had worked.

"So you've failed him four times. You know his safe houses. His crimes. You're a loose end now. He's not going to let you just walk away."

"I made a deal so he wouldn't kill you and we could be a family."

"Well I'm sorry but I recommend you run away as fast as possible and don't stop because having you alive only poses a threat or at least an inconvenience for him. Either way…"

Raza appeared through the tent opening with two guards at his shoulders.

"I thought the girl was meant to be in the water system."

"The water system was overflowing. One of the pipes ruptured."

"It was ruptured on purpose."

"We have a deal."

"Not anymore. Gentlemen." Raza turned and one of the two guards took out a pistol and shot Thomas.

Phoenix was breathing heavily and her eyes were filling.

"Let's go talk to Stark."

EXTRA LONG CHAPTER BECAUSE OF THE WAIT. PLEASE REVIEW


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Tony had been busy ripping through all the previously known ten rings bases. Empty. All of them, empty. Not only was Phoenix missing, but also so was everyone else, so it seemed. Hours of non-stop searching and nothing had turned up. Although he'd left Rhodes and Pepper in the capable hands of Fury, he felt the urge to see them, to know that they were okay.

When he arrived back at the house, he found them waiting for him. S.H.I.E.L.D agents surrounded the premises as well as surrounded Pepper and Rhodey. Clearly Fury had got the message that messing with 'the man in the suit' especially when he was incredibly pissed off, was a dangerous and potentially lethal task. He wasn't wrong to be afraid either, if anything were to happen to either of them again, it wouldn't end well for anyone.

Rhodey was busy calling in favors from friends in high places for thermal imagining throughout the Middle East and relaying information. Pepper was violently pacing around the house gathering as much information as possible on the group. Tony however, was lazily leaning on his desk allowing Jarvis to do his work for him. This work included the upgrade of the mark 7 technology to encompass thermal imaging and jam detectors. He wouldn't be caught blind sighted again and risk those who cared about paying for it.

"Tony!" Phoenix screamed.

Everybody raised or turned their heads. One of Tony's monitors was being overridden and a blurred picture of Phoenix appeared on the screen. The room fell a cold silent until Tony broke it.

"Phoenix! Are you okay? Where are you? Tell me where you are." His voice was struggling with the words.

"Stark, what a pleasure to see you once more." Raza's permanently damaged face appeared on the screen. "I think I've got something that belongs to you."

"What the hell do you want?" Tony said in a harsh, quick whisper.

"Technology was said to be the 'Hercules's heel' in my part of the world. It was my biggest weakness. I knew this before I was told. So I set to work fixing it. Your child and her mother over the years have helped me with that little issue." He grabbed Phoenix's jaw and pulled her back into view. Her bruised features and cut cheek were almost impossible for Tony to see. "And now it's not so much an issue."

"Tell me what you want!"

"I made a deal once with your friend Obadiah Stane. I gave him your first suit and in return he was to give me an army of iron soldiers. He never held up his side of the bargain."

"You want suits."

"Exactly."

"If I refuse?"

"The last time you refused an offer from the ten rings, you know what happened. The same thing will happen again, only, not to you, but to her." Raza pulled Phoenix close to him and raised a blade to her face. "Are you going to refuse my offer?"

"How many suits? How long do I have?"

"Forty suits."

"Done"

"Oh and Tony, you were in captivity for three months. Do you remember the second week of your stay? I'd hope so because her second week here starts in less then three days. I'd suggest you work quickly. I will contact you again when the three days are up."

The signal dropped out and the room once again fell almost silent.

"Jarvis did you find her?" Tony yelled seemingly to space.

"_The signal was jumping. I'm sorry but it could not be traced."_

He couldn't give them suits, too risky. He couldn't let them hurt Phoenix, too painful. He couldn't find them. He couldn't let them get away again. Tony caught himself wondering. For the second time in his life he didn't know what to do.

**Wow okay this chapter is just to give you an idea of what's to come. I apologize for the late arrival. I start exams in less then a week so more chapters should come faster from now on hopefully. Thank you so much for the latest reviews I always love feedback. **


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 **

Tony lost it. He began pacing in a circle for about ten seconds and then kicked his desk over, flipped his monitors and collapsed back into his chair. Pepper felt like breaking down into tears but now wasn't the time. Now wouldn't do any good. Instead she went over to Tony and pulled him close whispering to him. Rhodey hadn't moved an inch but he needed to now.

"Tony you realize you can't give him those suits." Rhodey said carefully. "So what do you plan to do?"

"Find Phoenix."

"Then we need a plan."

"I have a plan." He said finally leaving Pepper's arms. "That water storage place she described, it's part of the CSSSDCA Water Program. It was originally designed to get water to the more remote parts of the Middle East."

"So we work out possibilities."

"No. There are hundreds of them. We won't be able to find just one."

"So what's your point then?" Fury asked joining the conversation.

"We should try to cross-match the communities most affected by the Ten Rings and the ones of which had those water systems. Jarvis!"

The glass monitor could be seen flicking through files and occasionally putting a file to the left side of the screen.

"_Sir there is sixteen possible locations._"

"Rhodey can you get thermos over those areas."

"Tony we've gone over those areas thermo and camera. There was nothing there."

"How's that possible? They usually don't abandon their camps."

"Not only No-one but there was nothing there. No buildings, cars, wreckage or anything but dessert."

Tony thought for a minute. They couldn't see the camps or the tanks on radar or any other system. They could only see them when they came up closer.

"It's an invention. I'm guessing Phoenix or her mothers. It makes them almost invisible to radar, satellites you name it."

"And how do you know this?" Fury asked.

"Because we've experienced something like it before. When Tony and I were in the desert we thought there was nothing there. Nothing showed up on radar and then suddenly tanks appeared from behind dunes from no-where. I mean we thought there were no camps there anymore. Phoenix later told us she had designed an intelligent camouflage to hide them. It's likely they could have designed something to hide refuges and camps from satellites. " Rhodey answered.

"So the camps were hidden and the tanks were camouflaged so they appeared to come out from no-where." Fury said.

"Exactly. But that camp was special. We flew over it and didn't see anything. They can't afford to use that camouflage everywhere."

"Tony they have sixteen places with this water system all of which are hidden. He obviously knew that you would become aware of the water system and he doesn't care." Rhodey gave Tony a concerned look. "What are we supposed to do?"

Tony stopped for a moment trying to think of options. He could only think of one.

"Jarvis get Rhodes' suit fitted with the same jammer as mine. Also give me the co-ordinates for all of the camps with the water system. Rhodey we're going to have to search all those camps individually. They can't hide each of them fully from sight so we fly over and check each of them."

"That could take too long." Rhodey responded.

"It's either that or build forty suits. Take your pick."

"Lets go."

**Okay so I hope this chapter isn't too confusing. I wanted to give you another chapter quickly to make up for the wait **


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

**Middle East**

Splitting up was originally what was believed to be the smart option however, last time Tony and Rhodey were in the Middle East, their suits were used as a weapon against them. That fault was thought to be fixed but Tony told Rhodes he didn't want to risk another mishap. Really he just didn't want to risk losing anyone close to him again.

The second option was slow, though. There were so many options and so many possible different locations. It was becoming irritatingly apparent that they needed to speed up the process if they wanted to have any chance of finding Phoenix soon.

The darkness was beginning to set in. Tony and Rhodey found themselves staring continuously at a powerful natural display of beauty; pink and orange clouds cascaded through the sky. What was left of the sun seemed to glow off the suits. They became absorbed in thought as the sun descended to the horizon.

They touched down at the next camp to be reassured that not the whole world was full of such beauty. Guns were blazing and bullets penetrating through walls even after they'd ricocheted off the suits. The purity of the energy given off by Tony's suits was a completely foreign weapon against these fighters and it only took about five minutes before they had surrendered.

Tony rushed from building to building calling out to Phoenix. His voice was becoming increasingly weak as he began to feel more and more pained. Even so, he checked every inch of the camp above ground and underground. Nothing for the sixth time. He had to remind himself that he needed to be determined and not disconcerted or discouraged at another failed raid.

By the time Tony had finished searching, Rhodes's team along with S.H.I.E.L.D agents had rounded up the hostiles. They were escorted into the backs of trucks, large planes and cargo carriers. The process wasn't as quick as it usually was and Rhodey was becoming increasingly agitated. He ordered a few people around until Tony walked up behind him. They both allowed the face pieces to move up so that they could see one another.

"I take it you didn't find her." Rhodey said. "Don't worry, we will find her."

Tony didn't really feel like responding and his face showed that. He could no longer work out if he was angry, sad or determined. He found himself moving around even more then usual as his muscles became agitated. He didn't want to admit it, but anger was starting to overtake him. He wasn't encouraging but he just couldn't stop it. He needed to find Phoenix.

Once again she was in the unfortunate company of her capture. Light and polite conversation was obviously not one of his strong suits. So much so that when Phoenix attempted to make even just awkward conversation, she was practically issued a death threat.

Granted she was incredibly scared however she'd be more afraid in her life. Yes she was hurt but it wasn't badly in comparison to what Frank was like after her mum had died. Continually drinking and always finding someone else to blame for his issues namely Phoenix.

Even though this was true, Phoenix's fears were growing by the second. She only had a few hours before Tony's time was up. She knew he couldn't give Raza the suits but she wish she knew his plan. That's if he had one at all. It wouldn't be the first time she'd been left behind.

She stopped herself. She couldn't be having these thoughts now. They were unnecessary and unhealthy but she couldn't help wondering if they had any truth behind them. She didn't know if Tony loved her or if he even cared for her. She had convinced herself that he did but Phoenix was beginning to lose hope. Phoenix had been wrong so many times before, that her questioning was understandable. What if he wasn't coming? She needed him now. She just wished he'd feel the same way. Phoenix had been on the run for too long and only now that she'd begun to settle down did she realize how much she needed family.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she inadvertently tuned into the leader's conversation. She didn't understand much as they were speaking in Hungarian and she hadn't spoke Hungarian since her mother was around but she understood enough. It sounded as if they were talking about a trap. A capture of someone… Stark! Phoenix began to panic.

"What are you going to do with Tony?" Phoenix demanded.

Raza looked at her stunned. "I don't know what you are talking about but didn't anyone ever teach you that spying is rude?"

"Didn't anyone tell you kidnapping was illegal? Or that planning to kidnap someone is illegal?" Phoenix glared.

"Tread carefully, child." Raza warned, "You might not like the answers you get."

"I rarely do. Most answers are unfulfilling however I've asked the question now and I want an answer and I better get one."

The other leader raised his hand clearly about to strike Phoenix before Raza stopped him.

"Mr. Tenner I will handle her. Curiosity is dangerous but why should I care? This is your problem. We are going to capture Stark when he attempts to find you."

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

"He has been ripping up small camps. Those that are near the governments water system because that is where he believes you are."

"So we should be expecting a visit shortly. Well this has been fun but…"

"You think that I'm stupid enough to have not moved you if I thought he was coming?"

"Well… frankly…"

"Stark was always going to find out about the water system. It was part of the plan. Did you happen to notice a green light in the storage system you were in?"

Phoenix nodded slowly. She remembered that as she was climbing the ladder she'd noticed it in the corner.

"It didn't matter that you called for help because we always intended to show Stark the tape of you in that room."

"Why?"

"To through him off track and then capture him. If he thought you were near the water system he'd know where to search so we set up a fake storage system. I told you he'd never find you here and I told you that because he'd be so busy tearing up the wrong camps looking for you that he'd fly straight past you and never know. It also gave us time to finally kill him."

Pain tore through Phoenix's chest. She couldn't let anything happen to Tony or anyone else for that matter. She could feel herself almost start crying and silently begged herself not to start.

"Don't do this."

"But I've already started. We are about to move from here to one of the camps he has yet to hit, we'll leave you here, capture Stark an Col. Rhodes and your family, your friends are out of my life forever."

"How do you plan on capturing Tony?"

"That's the best part! We are going to use the technology you designed and kill him in his own suit. Burn him."

Phoenix didn't want to even think that this could possibly be her fault. She couldn't bare it.

"You hurt James by doing that once before. I'm sure Tony's already fixed that glitch."

"I'm sure your right. He would have had to change the frequency on the suit in order so that we can't control him. What he fails to realize is we don't just control the _suits_ frequency but all the frequencies known. For the suit to function completely it needs to be attached to _a_ frequency so that one part of the suit can communicate to the other. Like how the nervous system communicates to the brain. So, to fix what he thinks is the problem, he would have changed the frequency, or nerves if you like, of the suit. We still control him, though, because we control all frequencies."

"I never designed technology to such an extent!" Phoenix yelled. "Who did you bribe to do this research for you?"

"Your mother, sort of. But she wasn't taking bribes and she was doing it willingly because she thought she was working for the government."

"My mother died years ago."

"And we captured your father even longer ago. We've been planning this for a long time so you won't mind if I'm going to leave now to get the party started."

Phoenix was untied and hauled up by two guards who dragged her out of the tent with Tenner following. This time the blistering heat was replaced by a chilling cold and she felt herself shiver. She struggled to get free but as soon as she started causing real trouble, they through her onto the ground and kicked her hard in the stomach until she felt herself begin to cry. They picked her up by her hair and the leader slid his hand carefully across her cheek as she whimpered.

"I wouldn't want such a beautiful thing like you to be hurt anymore then you have been already so I suggest you behave." With that he attempted to force himself onto her only to be kicked extremely hard on the shin.

"Get away from me!" She screeched only to be met with a hand across her face.

Now phoenix had never been more scared in her life.

The leader dismissed the guards after they tied Phoenix's arms together behind her back with solid rope and left the remainder of the rope to the leader. He escorted her to what looked to be an old weapons room. The walls were solid and the entrance was painfully small. There was a chair in the center of the room and two desks on opposite sides of the room one of which had a series of empty shelves. The other had one shelf containing bottles of liquor and a few glasses.

Tenner forced her into the seat and secured her legs. He walked around the back of Phoenix; his face so close to her, she could feel his breath on her ear. He was mumbling something about how similar she was to her father but she was concentrating to hard to take much notice. Tenner grabbed a knife out of his pockets and Phoenix tensed before she practically stopped breathing. His free hand grabbed her wrists and pulled them further behind her back before cutting the rope and using what was left of the rope the guards had given him to secure her wrists to the arms of the chair. He poured himself a drink and spent a few minutes staring and drinking until he placed the glass back on the bench and walked back over to Phoenix. He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead before exiting.

**I'm so sorry for the delay. Exams and all but I'm back and be expecting many more chapters very soon. Please, please review it always makes my day **


	16. Chapter 16

**This chapter is for the guest that asked for more interaction between Phoenix and Pepper. I hear you and thanks for the review. Thanks to everyone else for all the support and reviews - Special mention to starky247. Enjoy **

**Chapter 16**

**Earlier in Malibu**

Pepper was ripping through files both digital and original. Her thoughts were screaming to her that something was terribly wrong. Tony had gone through and destroyed most of the Ten Rings' weapons and had captured or killed many high-ranking parties. Pepper realized that by now, the organization should have gone out of business; they were losing resources and didn't have the money to replace them, their weapons were being destroyed and they wouldn't have the money or resources to get more. How is it that they had so much money that they were able to get thousands more fighters, hackers and weapons at their immediate disposal? Money.

Tony has so many enemies, Pepper thought, but which one would be able to pull off something like this. She quickly ordered Jarvis to compile a list of all of Stark's known enemies. The first name Pepper saw instantly stole the spotlight, _Justin Hammer. _Hammer could have easily worked out a way to transfer funds overseas to the Ten Rings.

"Jarvis, I need you to show me any and all recent payments made from Justin Hammers bank account."

"_I presume you are aware of the illegal nature of this request. There is only one deposit made from this account since he went to prison."_

"How much?"

"_Twenty-million dollars." _

Pepper told Jarvis to check any recent visits or contact Hammer had with anyone. Jarvis brought up a tape of the last and only visit Hammer had received. When Pepper realized who the man on the tape was, she froze. Frank Thomas. Pepper ordered Happy and to S.H.E.L.D agents to come with her. Within minutes they had left the premises.

**Folsom State Prison**

Director Fury had already rung ahead, made a few threats, used his credentials and arranged a meeting for Pepper with Justin Hammer.

She walked into the dull room arranging her thoughts and working out exactly what she was going to. She sat down at the table with the agents and Happy behind her. Hammer was escorted into the room in and orange jumpsuit with chains on his hands and legs. The guards sat him down and cuffed him to the table.

"Ms. Potts, what a pleasure."

"What did the Ten Rings offer you to get you to give them that money?"

"Straight to the point. Well, I'm going to be predictable and tell you I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You transferred twenty million dollars to the Ten Rings after having a meeting with a man named Frank Thomas. We have the evidence, followed a few paper trails and now the Ten Rings have resources and weapons at their disposal. We're going to give this evidence to the court unless you tell us what you were getting in return."

"I'm already serving fifty years which is practically life at my age."

"The death penalty is still available. With this evidence we can prove that your money was used in conspiracy to abduction, murder, arms dealing and whatever else you'd like to ad to the list. I'm going to ask you one more time, what do you have to gain?"

Hammer paused for a minute considering his options. It was possible that even with his lawyers to guard him that the evidence would stack up against him.

"They said they could make him hurt. You know Tony Stark is like a rash; he hangs around for a while and as long as he's there, he painful and annoying. They said that they could finally hurt him and kill him. They just needed the money. Thomas said that Stark had a daughter and he could prove it. I was interested, understandably. He said that the Ten Rings would kidnap her, you and Colonel Rhodes. They said they would kill you, which in turn would practically kill Stark. Then they'd actually kill him. How could I object to that?"

"Why weren't you surprised to see me then?"

"I had two contacts; Frank and a guy named Tenner. Frank was meant to be the one to talk to regarding any issues in the operation here and Tenner was the follow through. Tenner told me that you and Rhodes had gotten away but they were successful in grabbing little Phoenix."

"She's just a kid."

"Prison changes a man. And she's not just a kid, she's Stark's kid."

Pepper resisted the urge to get up and punch Hammer in the face. This wasn't the time.

"How would you contact Tenner?"

"Why would I tell you that? Wouldn't that just cause me more harm?"

"Considering you just admitted playing a vital role in a premeditated abduction, I'd say you can't be in much more trouble."

Once again Hammer thought out his options and decided he may as well tell her.

"Got a pen and paper?"

**Middle East **

Phoenix waited until she stopped hearing sounds of car motors and voices before she allowed the leaders phone to come back into view. When he had leaned over she took it from his pocket and shuffled it so that it was under her wrist and out of view. She began typing Tony's number in when the phone started to vibrate. Phoenix nearly dropped the phone in pure shock and began debating whether to answer it or not but then she realized the number on the screen was that of Pepper Potts.

Phoenix immediately fumbled around putting the phone on speaker.

"Pepper!"

"Phoenix?" Pepper questioned. "How did you get the phone?"

Pepper, who was back at Stark mansion, had called the number Hammer had given her as Jarvis ran a trace.

"I… borrowed it from a creep named Tenner. Are you okay?"

"Am I okay? You're the who's missing!"

"I'm okay but you need to add Tony to the phone call he's in danger! Oh and how did you get this number?"

Phoenix tried desperately hard to not be suspicious but it was strange that Pepper was calling Tenner.

"Justin Hammer. He was funding the whole operation."

"Hammer? Didn't he try to kill Tony?"

"Not exactly but he inadvertently nearly did. I'm adding Tony to the conversation now."

"Pepper, are you okay?" Tony asked.

"I'm fine. I have good news."

"What?"

"Hey Tony." Phoenix interrupted.

"Phoenix! Are you okay? Where are you?"

Tony stopped flying and started hovering in mid air so Rhodes did the same.

"I fine and I don't know but Tony it's a trap."

"What are you talking about?"

"Stop going to those camps. I'm not in any of them."

"What?"

"Raza is trying to capture you and kill you. It was all a set up. That room I was in, it was fake. They made it to through you off track."

"Pepper, please tell me you know where the kid is."

"Got it! Grid reference 28 31 36 72."

Phoenix heard a car screech back to the camp right near the room. There was shouting and doors slamming.

"Tony! They're back!"

"We're coming okay!"

The door started to be unlocked and Phoenix quickly closed the phone and with a flick of her wrist, threw it so it just landed on one of the desks.

"Where is it?" Tenner yelled.

"Where's what?"

"My phone!"

"Is that it?" Phoenix asked nodding towards the desk and trying not to break character.

Tenner walked over to the desk and picked up the phone. Phoenix nearly sighed in relief until he opened the phone. After studying the phone for a minute he looked up at Phoenix with a face that would freeze hell over.

"You're a smart kid. Too bad." Tenner said turning back to the bench and making a call. "She's causing trouble. Can I kill her?"

Tenner closed the phone smirked back over to Phoenix.

"Time to go for a walk."

**Oooohhh I love cliffhangers! Please review and thanks for everyone's continued support **


	17. Chapter 17

Hey everyone! I'm so sorry about the wait. I'm on holidays in another country and its hard to get wifi access. Thanks though for all the support/followers and favourites as well and especially the reviews. So please keep reviewing and I will of course keep posting! Letting you know that this will not be the last chapter. Hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter 17

Middle East

As the mindless bullet ripped through the tender air, Tony's mind was racing almost as quickly as Phoenix's shaking heart. A desperate voice in his head began doubting and contradicting every move he'd made. Unfortunately it was Phoenix's voice weary and scared. He was thankful he had only heard this tone once before - when Phoenix worked out that her stepfather could have been to blame for her mothers death. Still, why did it have to be her voice?

As soon as Phoenix had hung up, Tony broke the speed of sound with Rhodes trailing closely behind. At this speed he would make it there in a matter of minutes. Too long. That would simply take to long. He needed her with him now - safe in his arms. He'd asked Rhodes if he had any ideas however Rhodey told him to calm down, that they'd get there when they could. As Tony kept telling himself that wasn't good enough, time passed. One minute until destination.

Tony, who was still technically connected to Stark mansion begun talking. Tony talked to himself a lot, so at first Fury didn't take much notice of what he was being asked to do. It became apparent however, that Tony had directed his rushed speech to him when he began yelling at him to pay attention.

"Fury! Listen to me! I need you to run a thermo camera over that area. I need to know what I'm walking into."Tony had never been so agitated and it was showing."I need to know where the kid is."

There was a momentary pause and a few digital noises before anyone spoke.

"Fury! Are you updating your Facebook status! Come on!"

"Five heat signatures are surrounding a larger heat signature. From the looks of it, it's a truck. Then there are two heat signatures coming your way - further into the desert. It could be Phoenix."

"Well Director Fury," Tony said calmly. "DIRECT!"

"Slow down. You'll fly right over her at the speed of sound."

"Your first good suggestion to date."

As was commanded, Tony and Rhodes slowed down to a speed where they could actually see what was happening on the ground.

"You should be just about to fly over..."

And that was when Tony stopped paying attention. To Fury, to the situation, to everything with the exception of Phoenix. He dropped from the sky so quickly it was as if gravity could no longer hold the weight he was carrying. And just as quickly as he'd dropped, he'd landed with his loyal best friend landing but ten feet away. All the sounds around him dissolved into nothing even the scream of 'Tony' from Phoenix. The only thing he noticed was when the man behind Phoenix lifted a gun to her head. That was when time slowed with a bullet ripping through the air.

Although he never remembered taking the shot, he'd heard the bullet and froze. Had he calculated incorrectly? Never before had Tony Stark second-guessed his maths. If anyone told him that his calculations were incorrect or flawed, he would have their opinion discredited within seconds. Now that it was his opinion though, he didn't know if he could ignore it.

It especially didn't help that now the voice speaking to him was that of his daughter. Tony, I trusted you! How could you take that shot? What if you hit me? What would you do then? Even though it was his subconscious talking, Tony caught himself uttering 'I'm sorry'.

The bullet tore through flesh as screams pierced through the air. Tony's heart began ripping in two to only fall right back into place. The man dropped to his knees behind Phoenix. The kid broke through the time slow and was now running at light speed over to Tony who'd allowed his helmet to lift. She stumbled in the cold sand but pushed through the pain of her aching body to get to him. If it was possible, Tony was running even faster to get to her. As she stumbled once again, Tony was there to pull her right into his arms.

"I'm sorry, Phoenix. I'm so sorry."

It was perfect. Although his arms were covered in gold aluminium alloy, which wasn't all that comfortable, it was the perfect moment for Phoenix. Too perfect. After a minute of the most anticipated, uninterrupted, peaceful hug that had ever been, Phoenix broke the silence. It was becoming far to heartfelt for her liking.

"What took you so long?" Phoenix questioned poker face failing.

"Well, you don't write, you don't call... I mean you could have helped a little."

"Hey I did to call. Twice, actually."

"Indirectly."

"What was indirect about the second one?"

Tony clearly couldn't argue with that so he decided to say something she couldn't possibly argue with. "I still saved you."

"No you didn't!" Rhodey said from about four feet behind Tony. "You froze like a little girl so I took the shot. I was in a better position then you anyway. You seriously thought you took the shot?"

There was another awkward silence Phoenix felt the need to break.

"Rhodes, are you okay?"

"Me? Really?"

"The last time I saw you, you were being carried unconscious into a van."

"The last time I saw you, you had a knife to your neck."

"Fair enough."

"So does the hero get a hug?"

One awkward hug later and they were lost for words. Tony couldn't help but just breath. The relief washing over him like a wave pouring onto the sand.

Phoenix responded after a brief pause. "Who wants to go home?"

Unfortuantely Tony's response wasn't very impressive.

"Not yet. I need to take care of something first."

p.s. if you really want to see something in the last few chapters, let me know ;)


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

**Middle East**

"Which would be what exactly?"

"I just realized what was indirect about the second one."

"Are you still on that." Phoenix asked honestly concerned about how many things were clearly running through Tony's head. "Because we stopped talking about that like a few minutes ago."

"You didn't call me directly."

"I spoke to you directly…" Phoenix begun. Her voice was slightly wavering.

"But you didn't call me directly."

"Well I would have if Pepper didn't call me first-"

"Honestly you two," Rhodey interrupted "You've been in the same space for five minutes and you are already fighting. Again."

Tony and Phoenix stayed silenced momentarily whist Rhodey looked with exhaustion and let out a gasp of enervation. He noticed Phoenix was shivering but before he could say anything, Phoenix spoke again.

"What do you still need to do, Tony?"

"It's obvious isn't it? I'd like to have a little discussion with your bastard of a stepfather Thomas."

"He's dead."

"What?"

"Raza killed him. He was a liability and he failed Raza."

"That's disappointing." Tony said without a hint of a lie. "In any case I have a party invite with Raza's name on it and I'd like to attend."

With that Tony began firing up the thrusters.

"Tony wait!"

"Why?" Tony wined like a two year old.

"Your suits frequencies were targeted when Rhodes and you were in the Middle East last month, right?"

Tony thought back to Rhodey cringing as his suit was involuntarily heated.

"What's your point?"

"To make sure you weren't in danger of that happening again you switched the frequency correct?"

"Well yeah but-"

"Raza doesn't just control one frequency, he controls all of them. He could still control you."

"Actually he can't." Tony trailed off.

"Were you not just listening? See Pepper says that's your problem; you don't listen. He doesn't just control one frequency, he controls all of them."

"Phoenix just listen to _me_ for a second. I changed the frequency but I also installed a jammer into both my suit and Rhodey's suit."

"A jammer? Isn't that a little old fashioned." Rhodey asked.

"The problem with Raza is he himself doesn't know a thing about technology. He's just using whatever new technology he can get. So, in turn, he looks past all the old technology."

"You're bluffing, Tony. If he could hack Jarvis, what's to say he can't take over the jammer?"

"The jammer doesn't give off any signal but in some ways it's like a sponge; it absorbs other incoming signals so they can't affect the suits. It's programmed into the suit but cannot be accessed by the suit. All the incoming signals to the suit have to go through it for basically threat assessment. Really old school. This kind of tech hasn't been used since Hitler ruled Germany."

"Will that work?" Rhodey asked Tony.

"It's ah… well it's not actually a terrible idea." Tony responded.

"Why don't more people use it today?"

"Well for one, they are extremely difficult to make and most turn out to be the size and weight of a brick. Not to mention it's practically worth that weight in gold. Plus they are unreliable in the sense that they self destruct at the first sign of tampering, which is pretty redundant when it comes to a product that is supposed to protect you from imminent danger." Phoenix answered.

"Right but it's perfect for our situation." Tony attempted to re-assure.

"Wait let me get this straight," Rhodey begun becoming slightly concerned. "If that ancient thing malfunctions, they can control my suit again?"

"Well theoretically, it's a possibility-"

"No way! Not going to happen."

"Oh good so we're agreed we can go home now before I freeze to death because incase you haven't noticed… I'm wearing pants and a jacket and it's like twenty degrees!"

"Fine. Rhodey's team should be here in a minute. You can go back to Malibu with him and I'll meet you there."

Tony began wandering back in the direction of the larger group of heat signatures.

"Tony, please. Rhodey's team can take care Raza and the others."

"I need to finish it with him once and for all."

"Tony, there's a point where self-defense and defense of others, just turns into murder. Please. All I want is to go back to Malibu see Pepper and know that some form of just action has been taken against Raza."

"Phoenix he took you from me. He kidnapped you and he hurt you."

"I know. But if you murder him, what does it say about you?"

Tony stood for a minute motionless for a minute before he let out a sigh of exasperation.

"What's going on with you kid?"

Phoenix hesitated for a moment before responding.

"I don't want to risk you getting hurt."

"What about Raza?"

"If my unit doesn't kill him, the death penalty will." Rhodey commented.

"I still want to have a few minutes alone with him."

"And I wouldn't mind that either but it's not worth the real potential for you getting hurt. " Phoenix said.

"Why do you hate the thought of me getting even so much?"

"Tony do you care more about me or more about revenge?"

"You." Tony answered without vacillation.

"Then don't leave me, because I need you."

Tony tittered. "You don't trust the old school technology?"

"I'm more of a twenty-first century person."

The cold silence of the night was interrupted by what sounded like a series of helicopters followed by unending war of gunshots. As Tony, Rhodes and Phoenix spun to see where the commotion was coming from, they saw the sidelights of helicopters off in the distance. Sparks and flash bombs could be seen even from the expanse between the terrorists camp and the suits and Phoenix.

"I guess Fury made the decision for you." Rhodey said.

Apart from Phoenix trembling, they stood still for a moment watching as the gunfire died down.

"Who wants to go home?" Tony asked.

**Hey everyone. I hate to say it but this story might be rapping up in a few chapters so please feel free to tell me what ****you ****want out of the rest of the story. Also, if you'd like to see a sequel to this story, I would enjoy writing another one so let me know. But apart from that, I hope everyone had a great holiday and a great start to 2013. BTW, more Pepper and Phoenix as well as more Pepper and Tony and Tony and Phoenix in the chapters to come. Thanks for reading and as always please review. **


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19 **

**Mid-air **

Tony looked around the cabin. Apart from the reverberation of the blades, the cargo helicopter was quiet. His eyes came to lye upon his daughter and his best friend. Phoenix hadn't slept in a while and almost as soon as they had bordered, she'd fallen asleep on Rhodey's shoulder whilst Tony was talking to the pilot. Seeing Phoenix like that wasn't as peaceful as what Tony had hoped. He could see the scratches and bruises on her face, the sand and dirt in her hair and the pain hidden under her eyes in the form of bags. It reminded him of the first time he'd met her. At least now she was safe back with him and could sleep tranquilly.

Tony however couldn't find sleep. He was thinking too quickly to allow sleep. His mind seemed to wander back to something Raza had said. Raza had told him; that he was selfish and that he'd put everyone he loved in danger by not keeping his mouth shut about the fact he was iron man. Raza hadn't been wrong. If recent history had been any indication, he wasn't wrong at all. The woman he loves and the brother he never had were hospitalized because of him and his daughter was kidnapped also because of him and his ego. He'd made so many mistakes but now he wished he'd just never opened his mouth. Tony found himself thinking was Phoenix really safe with him?

**Los Angeles**

As the copter touched down at LAX, Phoenix finally awoke. For a moment her eyes widened and her breathing sped up until she saw Tony opposite her with a goofy smile on his face. As she sat up off Rhodes' shoulder, she saw him smile to her. "Are we there yet?" She asked smirking.

The helicopter settled onto the ground and a soldier came from the front of the plane to notify them that they were not allowed to depart the aircraft until they had come to a complete standstill.

As they departed the helicopter, Phoenix noticed Pepper walking towards them. As they both stopped for a moment before both of them started walking faster and soon found themselves jogging until they met. Pepper wrapped her instinctively into a hug.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" She said breathlessly.

"I'm fine. I'm fine. Are you?"

Pepper laughed at her question before she let Phoenix go and put on a stern face.

"Why did you give me back the watch?"

"I needed to know you were safe."

"How did you know it had a GPS in it?"

"Well it had the Stark Industries logo engraved onto the bottom of it and it was the only logical explanation I could come up with as to why you would give me a watch of all things in an emergency."

"Well... don't do it again." Pepper said.

"I will." Phoenix whispered provoking a look from Pepper.

At that moment Tony and James joined Phoenix and Pepper.

"I never got a hug when I came back from the Middle East." Tony mumbled.

With that Pepper walked and kissed Tony.

"Well that works too." Tony said.

"Really?" Phoenix asked.

"Was that necessary?" Rhodey questioned. "It's weird right?" Rhodes asked Phoenix.

"Yeah it's weird but maybe we should let them have their moment."

"Oh it's okay the moment is long gone." Tony said slightly vexed.

**Stark Mansion**

**(Later that night) **

Pepper and Tony had settled into bed and Pepper knew she had to tell Tony at some point. Pepper lay on Tony's chest and sought courage. She looked up at him to make sure he was still awake before speaking.

"Tony we have a small problem." Pepper said concerned.

"What?" Tony asked quietly.

"When Jarvis was hacked, the hacker took Phoenix's records. The digital birth certificates, the DNA test results and the file on Phoenix's mum."

"And?"

"They released it to the press. We didn't know it had been released because we were a little preoccupied with trying to find her. I'm sorry, but the damage was done by the time we discovered it."

Tony was in for a sleepless night.

**Stark Mansion**

**(A week later)**

Tony trailed Rhodes as they entered the house.

"Oh come on Honey you know I hate it when we fight."

"Tony don't start with me."

"I keep telling you, I didn't mean to deactivate your suit."

"I was flying when you deactivated it, Tony."

"Hey if you'd just returned it when I told you, it wouldn't have automatically shut down."

"I'm talking to you about this right now, Tony." Rhodey said seriously. "I'm here to see the kid and you know make sure she's okay."

"She's fine. Why wouldn't she be?"

"Tony don't even pretend to be that ignorant. You were scared when you came back from captivity."

"Uh huh just keep thinking that."

"You don't need to fake your macho persona. We all know you're like a marshmallow behind that bit of metal covering your heart." Rhodey teased.

"Careful Rhodey you're entering dangerous territory."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Get your suit."

"Well as much as I would genuinely love to, I said I was here to see Phoenix."

""She's out, was due back an hour ago. Hogan's teaching her jiu jitsu. So you're chickening out?"

"No I'm disrespectfully declining."

"Oh so now you don't respect me?'

"Never did."

"I see how it is."

"Do you now? Oh wait I forgot you know everything." Rhodey said slightly giggling.

Phoenix had come upstairs and was listening in silence behind a wall adjacent to the pair.

"Finally someone gets me." Tony smirked before catching his feet and falling onto the couch, which Rhodey chose to ignore.

"In all seriousness, is she okay?"

Tony thought about this for a minute. Phoenix hadn't complained since she got home but Tony knew she wasn't okay. He knew she had been having nightmares and she wasn't eating as much as she did before not to mention she had barely been alone since they got back. She always seemed to want company.

"She's handling it better then most. Nightmares come and go and she's starting to eat normal sized servings of food, which is a good sign. She's still scared, though. She wouldn't say it but you can tell. I think she might have some trust issues."

"Understandable." Rhodey said as they stood in silence for a moment. "So I heard you got the test results back?"

"Yeah, a few days ago. She's definitely my daughter." Tony said solemnly.

"Why don't you sound happy about that? Phoenix is a great kid."

"And now everyone knows she's my daughter. She's never going to be safe as long as she is associated with me." Tony regarded somberly.

"What are you going to do? "

"I was thinking of telling the test results came back negative. I could send her to a foster home. At least that way she would be safe."

"I hope you're not serious, Tony." Pepper said as she walked into the room.

Phoenix stood still but her heart began pounding through her chest.

"That girl is precious. Not only that but you'd never forgive yourself if you let her go. She'd never forgive you. She only trusts a few people in this world imagine how scared she would be. Besides she is your daughter and that is undeniable. Your enemies probably all know she exists now or will soon anyway. It's all over the news, Tony. She would be safer with you then in some home." Rhodes needed Tony to understand how important this was.

"Those were my thoughts, except you missed one – I couldn't let her go if I wanted to. I care about her too much. That's one of the reasons I keep you and Pepper around."

Rhodey smirked proudly.

"Well Pepper at least."

"See what did I say, marshmallow."

"Tony I'm pretty sure you couldn't survive without us." Pepper said. "And we couldn't survive without you, Tony."

Tony kissed Pepper as they giggled like teenagers.

"Speak for yourself, Pepper." Rhodey said utterly aghast.

Pepper sniffed. "Tony have you been drinking?" Pepper asked.

"Maybe. Not extensively." He paused for a minute. "I love you guys!"

"Okay." Rhodey said. "Should he be drinking around the kid?"

"She's not here so I figure I'm not being a bad influence." Tony said as he faltered a bit. "And I wouldn't have started but the kid was due home ages ago."

"He's worried." Rhodey said smirking at Pepper.

"How adorable."

"Not funny." Tony snarled. "We should probably call Hogan and see where he is."

"No need." Phoenix appeared from behind the wall.

"I didn't hear you come in." Tony said.

"Happy dropped me at the shop."

"How long have you been here?" Rhodes asked.

"A while. Long enough."

**Hey everyone. Here is another chapter. Thanks to ****Scarlett-Potter-Has-Swag for the review which sounds like an interesting one to try to write. Would you like it to be a funny story or a more serious underlying tone with funny lines like in the avengers? In any case keep the ideas coming everyone and I'll try to include everyone's thoughts. Thanks for reading and as always please review **


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20 **

**Stark Mansion**

"Come on Phoenix. It will be fun."

His generally eccentric personality could sometimes be hard to grasp, but when Tony Stark became obsessed with something, he'd probably never let it go. For the last few days, Tony had become convinced that he needed to spend more time with Phoenix before he went back to work. Phoenix of course was very happy to get to know Tony more but after just a day with him, she'd gotten over it. There was either very little talking or just awkward conversation. Not really much fun.

"Tony you know I'm good at designing things but I can't build things."

"Have you ever tried?"

"Yes." Phoenix answered. "And I ended _up_ blowing _up_ part of my kitchen."

He considered this for a minute making a mental note to ask her the story later.

"Hey was I there when that happened."

"Well… no."

"Then we'll be fine."

Tony began walking downstairs to the shop as Phoenix trailed behind cringing. She knew this couldn't possibly end well. Although she would know everything about the raw materials, the tools, the technique, something always ended up going wrong somewhere down the line, which usually resulted in an explosion or at the very least an apology to one person or another.

"Tony its such a nice day. Why don't we just go to the beach or something?"

"Because you need to get over this fear and I'm going back to New York tomorrow."

"It is not a fear, it's just a… concern."

"Either way you're getting over it."

Phoenix dropped her head back as Tony entered in his password. As they walked into the shop, Phoenix noticed a 1932 Ford Roadster on her left. Otherwise known as one of Tony's favorite cars. She'd seen photos of it in the kitchen and living room but had never actually personally seen it.

"Wow. When did that get here?"

"I sent for it last night." Tony responded whilst pushing his tools over to it. "What do you think?"

"That is a seriously cool car."

"It's a 1932-"

"Ford Roadster. I know."

"Flathead Ford Roadster but yeah. You know much about cars?"

"Yeah. One of my favored topics."

"Good choice." He looked over to her and smiled audaciously.

"What?"

"You're going to help me fix it."

The look of panic and dismay on Phoenix's face made Tony laugh.

"No way. Not going to happen."

"Why not?"

"That's your car, your favorite car. I have a tendency towards breaking things."

"Well I trust that you won't break this."

"Really? Because I don't!"

"Relax, you'll do great."

Two hours on and still nothing that wasn't broken before had been broken and there had been no explosions; so far so good. The pair had taken out the engine in the hopes to repair a broken cylinder. Taking apart the engine required patience Phoenix soon realized. She knew she could be patient but she was more concerned about Tony. She soon learnt though that when it came to working, he was incredibly persevering. Right now they were cleaning out the engine before they re-assembled it.

"Hey Tony can I ask you something."

"Sure, shoot."

"When you came back captivity, were you scared?"

"Yeah. Of course I was scared." He paused and looked at her. "Scared to go out. Scared by nightmares. Why?"

"How did you deal with it?"

"You find something else to be pre-occupied with. For me that was determination. Determination to make up for mistakes. I built a new suit, I shut down the weapons manufacturing components of my company and I set out on a new mission. A new start."

"What should I do?"

"Do you like working with cars?"

"This is the most fun I've had in a long time."

"Kid you're not bad at this. I think you never really had exposure to the engineering viewpoint. Jarvis can help you. I have a bunch of vintage cars that need repairing and you could considerate a distraction. Plus you can still go to high school or more likely university make friends. A new start."

Phoenix nodded but didn't respond.

"Phoenix can I ask you a question?"

"You just did."

"Do you think I'm selfish?" Tony asked.

"Why would you ask that?"

"I told the world I was Iron Man. I have hundreds of enemies and now I have two people in my life that I couldn't live without. What if I can't protect you and Pepper? I know I already talked about this with Rhodes and Pepper but I just can't shake it."

"Tony you can't always be there to protect the ones you love. Believe me I know. You made a mistake when you told everyone you were Iron Man. I'm not going to say I don't believe that. But you can't take it back. Keep in mind the ones you love also love you. They can deal with the territory that comes with you." Phoenix smiled to him.

"How would I be able to live with myself if something happened to you or Pepper?" He asked without returning a smile.

"Tony I think you've made enough decisions for Pepper and I so I think we would both agree on a decision we've made for you."

"Which is?"

"We're not going anywhere. We will live out as normal a life as we can if something happens, then we'll call you. Plus I think hundreds is an exaggeration."

How could this have happened? Tony thought to himself. How could he have possibly ended up with two people in his life that cared about him so much? What did he do to deserve Phoenix and Pepper or Rhodey for that matter?

"I'm going to grab a soda." Phoenix said bringing Tony out of his trance. "Do you want anything?"

"No I'm fine thanks."

As Phoenix exited the shop Jarvis began speaking.

"_Sir there is an incoming video call from Director Fury. Shall I answer it?"_

"Yeah. Put him up on the main screen."

"Stark I'm in a hurry so listen. We have positive confirmation that both Raza and Thomas are dead."

"Are you sure?"

"Without a doubt." Fury was clearly distracted but the certainty in his voice was clear. "I've got to go but I just thought you should know."

"Thanks." Tony mumbled as the monitor went back to the schematics for the Roadsters engines.

As the day drew on it got continually darker and Phoenix and Tony began to tire. They agreed to give it another hour and then they'd go to bed. An hour and a half later and Phoenix was asleep in the car. Pepper came down to see where everyone was.

"What are you doing, Tony?"

"Phoenix and I were just fixing up the car."

"It's nearly midnight!"

"Where have you been? I haven't seen you all day."

"New York."

"How's the tower?"

"Fine. It is pretty much normal again. Where is Phoenix?"

Tony gestured towards the car.

"Sleeping."

"Well take her to bed."

"Fine."

As Tony carried Phoenix to bed he couldn't help but think how lucky he was and how much he'd missed her when she was gone. He just wanted her to be safe. But he also wanted her to always be with him. He was starting to realize what it felt like to be a parent. As he set her down onto the bed and slipped the covers over her, she began to wake up.

"Hey Tony."

"Hey kid. Its nearly midnight."

"Then I can understand why you carried me to bed."

"Oh by the way I wanted to give you something."

Tony pulled a box out of his pocket. In the low light it looked to be a blight blue color with some kind of an indentation on it. It was the Stark industries symbol. As he opened the box a watch was revealed. It was vaguely similar to Pepper's watch but seemed designed more modern look.

"To keep you safe."

"It's beautiful. Thanks." They just looked at one another. "Goodnight."

As Tony began to leave he looked back through the doorway.

"I love you, kid."

"I love you too, Dad."

Tony closed Phoenix's door behind him. As he turned to walk up the corridor to his room, he saw Pepper standing just a meter away.

"That was really sweet, Tony."

"Pep?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you." He said edging his way closer to her.

"I love you too."

They came closer and closer before they kissed. Pepper backed away slightly.

"You're going to be a great father."

Tony pulled her back to him before picking her up and kissing her again.

The End?

**I will be writing a sequel to this story and it promises to be more planned out with a writing style similar to this chapter as well as chapter 17 as opposed to chapter 19. I want the next story to be better thought out and more challenging. I hope you have all enjoyed this little fanfic and I will be happy to hear from everyone about what they thought of the finish. I promise I will spend a few days planning the sequel and will get into writing it really quickly. Thanks to everyone for being so supportive of my writing.**

**A very special thanks to everyone who has reviewed. Also thanks to VeriLu for the advice about repetition, which I was on the lookout for in this chapter. I love to get advice so please don't think twice about telling me about mistakes. **

**I hope you all have had a great holiday and I'm looking forward to getting back into writing soon. Thanks **

**Please review ;)**


	21. Sequel News

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to let people know that I have started the new story (sequel). It is called 'The Summer Frost'. I posted the first chapter last week and I am planning to post a new chapter either today or tomorrow. Please check it out and let me know what you think.

Thanks


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